Brazil news

• ‘This is survival’: Jamaica leads calls from vulnerable nations at Cop30

  17-11-2025 20:27
  Countries including Mauritius and Cuba reiterate life-or-death nature of cutting emissions, calling it ‘a moral duty’Jamaica has led calls from vulnerable nations at the Cop30 climate summit to urge immediate action on climate breakdown as the conference entered its second week.As high-level ministers from governments around the world took over negotiations in Belém, Brazil, vulnerable nations lined up to say how important it is that wealthier countries cut emissions in order
  
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• ‘We’re true guardians of the forest’: quilombola community near Belém demand land rights and recognition

  01-12-2025 16:00
  Short boat ride from Cop30 host, Afro-descendant residents of Menino Jesus say their voices are not being heardWalk through the conference centre where the recent UN climate talks were held and representations of Indigenous people and culture were everywhere, from the spear-carrying, fiery-headed Cop30 mascot Curupira to huge mural-sized photos of people navigating the Amazon in dugout canoes and the many protests demanding dialogue outside.Yet a short boat ride down the river from Belém,
  
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• Brain damage, blindness and death: the global trail of trauma left by methanol-laced alcohol

  29-11-2025 07:00
  Methanol, a cheap relative of ethanol, is entering the supply chain, causing thousands of deaths around the worldFor Bethany Clarke, poison tasted like nothing. There was no bitter aftertaste, no astringent sting at the back of the tongue. If anything, she thought in passing, the free shots she and her friends were drinking at a hostel bar in Laos had probably been watered down – she wasn’t detecting a strong vodka flavour through the veil of Sprite she had mixed it with.All in all,
  
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• ‘Foam that’s washed away’: support dissolves as Bolsonaro starts 27-year jail term

  28-11-2025 11:00
  Brazil shows little sign of feared rightwing rebellion, with only a few die-hards protesting outside prisonA few hours before Jair Bolsonaro was ordered to start his 27-year coup sentence in a parking space-sized room, Arley Xavier stood outside the former president’s new home putting a brave face on his leader’s bind.“It’s not over. There’s still so much Jair Messias Bolsonaro needs to do here in Brazil … No, it’s not over,” insisted the 21-year-
  
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• Protests, tears and a baby: five key images that tell the story of Cop30

  26-11-2025 16:26
  Emotions ran high at the UN climate summit in Brazil, which was hit by its first major protest in four yearsIt was a tense moment. A group of about 50 people from the Munduruku, an Indigenous people in the Amazon basin, had blocked the entrance to the Cop30 venue in protest, causing long lines of delegates to snake down access roads, simmering in the morning heat.The Munduruku, unhappy about the ruination of their forest and rivers by industry and their lack of voice at Cop30, demanded to speak
  
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• Jair Bolsonaro ordered to start 27-year prison term for plotting Brazil coup

  25-11-2025 20:08
  Ex-president to start serving term in 12 sq metre bedroom in police base in Brasília after time for appeals elapsesBrazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been ordered to start serving his 27-year sentence in a 12 sq metre bedroom in a police base in the capital, Brasília, after his conviction for plotting a coup.The far-right populist, 70, who governed Latin America’s largest democracy from 2019 until 2022, was handed the punishment in September after the suprem
  
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• ‘Fossil fuel giants finally in the crosshairs’: Cop30 avoids total failure with last-ditch deal

  25-11-2025 06:00
  It took some oblique wording, but Saudi Arabia made a last-minute decision to sign deal that marks departure for CopDawn was breaking over the Amazonian city of Belém on Saturday morning, but in the windowless conference room it could have been day or night. They had been stuck there for more than 12 hours, dozens of ministers representing 17 groups of countries, from the poorest on the planet to the richest, urged by the Brazilian hosts to accept a settlement cooked up the day before.Tem
  
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• Bitter rows and overnight talks: how a fragile Cop30 deal was agreed – podcast

  24-11-2025 18:42
  After bitter arguments, threatened walkouts and heated all-night negotiations, delegates eventually reached a deal this weekend at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil. To unpick what was achieved and what was left out, Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian’s environment editor, Fiona Harvey, who has been following every twist and turnEnd of fossil fuel era inches closer as Cop30 deal agreed after bitter standoffSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...
  
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• Jimmy Cliff obituary

  24-11-2025 18:21
  One of the greatest stars of Jamaican reggae known for his 1969 hit Many Rivers to Cross and the film The Harder They ComeThe singer and songwriter Jimmy Cliff, who has died aged 81, was one of Jamaica’s most celebrated performers. An itinerant ambassador who introduced the music and culture of his island to audiences across the world at a time when reggae was largely unknown, he was a pioneer with a distinctive high tenor voice whose themes of civil and human rights resonated with many.Th
  
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• Jair Bolsonaro claims ‘psychotic attack’ made him tamper with ankle monitor

  23-11-2025 18:56
  Brazil’s former president says he took a soldering iron to electronic tag as he was hallucinating that it was buggedBrazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he took a soldering iron to his electronic ankle monitor after having a substance-induced “psychotic attack” that caused him to hallucinate that the device was bugged.Bolsonaro made the claim during a custody hearing on Sunday, 24 hours after he was arrested at his home in the capital, Bras&iacut
  
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• UN warns world losing climate battle but fragile Cop30 deal keeps up the fight

  23-11-2025 18:46
  Reaching agreement in divisive political landscape shows ‘climate cooperation is alive and kicking’, says UN climate chiefThe world is not winning the fight against the climate crisis but it is still in that fight, the UN climate chief has said in Belém, Brazil, after a bitterly contested Cop30 reached a deal.Countries at Cop30 failed to bring the curtain down on the fossil fuel age amid opposition from some countries led by Saudi Arabia, and they underdelivered on a flagship
  
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• Four ways AI is being used to strengthen democracies worldwide | Nathan E Sanders and Bruce Schneier

  23-11-2025 13:00
  The dangers of artificial intelligence and its potential to consolidate power are clear. But used fairly, it can be a boon for good governmentDemocracy is colliding with the technologies of artificial intelligence. Judging from the audience reaction at the recent World Forum on Democracy in Strasbourg, the general expectation is that democracy will be the worse for it. We have another narrative. Yes, there are risks to democracy from AI, but there are also opportunities.We have just published th
  
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• Trump, war, absent media: five threats to climate progress that dogged Cop30

  23-11-2025 11:21
  Did the talks succeed or fail? The verdict must take account of the geopolitical minefield they took place inCop30 in Belém wrapped up on Saturday night more than 24 hours later than planned, and with an Amazonian rainstorm thundering down on the conference centre. The United Nations structure just about held, as it has done these past three weeks despite fire, savage tropical heat and blistering political attacks on the multilateral system of global environmental governance.Dozens of agr
  
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• Brazil's ex-president Bolsonaro admits damaging ankle monitor with hot iron – video

  23-11-2025 11:17
  Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he tried to damage his electronic ankle monitor 'out of curiosity' after he was arrested at his villa owing to suspicions that he was preparing to abscond. In a video released by the supreme court, Bolsonaro – who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for leading an attempted military coup – can be heard admitting to a security official that he had used a soldering iron to tamper with the black tagJair Bolsonaro arrest
  
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• Cop30’s watered-down agreements will do little for an ecosystem at tipping point

  22-11-2025 22:59
  Delegates made minimal headway on timetable for replacing oil and gas or on firm commitments to reducing carbon emissions“Right now, our people are losing their lives and livelihoods from storms of unprecedented strength which are being powered by warming seas. Our coral reefs, the lifeblood of our islands’ food systems, culture and economies are at a tipping point in dieback. Forest ecosystems are at a tipping point. The window to protect lives and economies is closing.”While
  
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• Jair Bolsonaro arrested after tampering with ankle tag ‘out of curiosity’

  22-11-2025 22:16
  Brazilian ex-president says he used soldering iron on device and is now in custody over fears he was going to abscondBrazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he tried to damage his electronic ankle monitor “out of curiosity” after he was arrested at his villa owing to suspicions he was poised to abscond.In a video released by the supreme court, Bolsonaro – who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for masterminding a military coup – can
  
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• Roadmaps, adaptations and transitions: what climate measures were agreed at Cop30?

  22-11-2025 21:33
  After talks come close to collapse, the deal represents steps, rather than leaps, forward on tackling climate crisisThe UN climate summit Cop30 moved forward the fight against the climate crisis and the damage it is already causing to lives and livelihoods. But the measures delivered are steps, rather than the leaps needed. Continue reading...
  
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• Compromises, voluntary measures and no mention of fossil fuels: key points from Cop30 deal

  22-11-2025 21:33
  A deal is welcome after talks nearly collapsed but the final agreement contains small steps rather than leapsThe UN climate summit Cop30 moved forward the fight against the climate crisis and the damage it is already causing to lives and livelihoods. But the measures agreed are steps, rather than the leaps needed. Continue reading...
  
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• Moment world secures compromise deal at Cop30 that sidesteps fossil fuels – video

  22-11-2025 18:48
  World governments agreed on Saturday to a compromise climate deal at the Cop30 conference in Brazil that would increase finance for poor countries coping with global warming but omits any mention of the fossil fuels responsible for it. In securing the accord, which was gavelled through by Cop's president, André Corrêa do Lago, countries attempted to demonstrate global unity in addressing climate change impacts, even after the world's biggest historical emitter, the US, declined to s
  
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• End of fossil fuel era inches closer as Cop30 deal agreed after bitter standoff

  22-11-2025 18:45
  Wealthy countries should triple funds for countries to tackle climate impacts, but deforestation and critical minerals blocked from final dealThe world edged a small step closer to the end of the fossil fuel era on Saturday, but not by nearly enough to stave off the ravages of climate breakdown.Countries meeting in Brazil for two weeks could manage only a voluntary agreement to begin discussions on a roadmap to an eventual phase-out of fossil fuels, and they achieved this incremental progress on
  
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• Brazilian police arrest Bolsonaro amid suspicions he was about to flee

  22-11-2025 16:16
  Bolsonaro was under house arrest for masterminding coup to stop 2022 election winner, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, taking officeBrazil’s former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been arrested at his villa in the capital, Brasília​, amid suspicions he was poised to abscond to a foreign embassy to avoid going to prison for masterminding a military coup.In a brief statement, federal police confirmed officers had executed a preventive arrest warrant at the request of t
  
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• Miliband urges Cop30 to find ‘creative’ routes to roadmap on phasing out fossil fuel

  22-11-2025 00:50
  UK energy secretary says UN climate talks must find way to keep proposals alive despite significant resistanceSupporters of a global phaseout of fossil fuels must find “creative” ways to keep the proposal alive, including making it voluntary rather than binding, the UK energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has said in the closing stages of the UN climate talks.As the Cop30 summit in Brazil carried on past the Friday night deadline, the prospect of countries agreeing on the need for a roadma
  
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• Cop30 draft text omits mention of fossil fuel phase-out roadmap

  21-11-2025 10:07
  Exclusive: Summit leadership releases new text despite 29 nations threatening to block progress without commitment A new draft text on the outcome of the Cop30 climate talks has been published that contains no mention of a phase-out of fossil fuels, despite countries supporting such action having threatened to block any agreement without it.The Guardian revealed on Thursday night that at least 29 nations supporting a phase-out of fossil fuels at the climate summit had sent a letter to the Brazil
  
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• Cop30: dozens of countries threaten to block resolution unless it contains roadmap to fossil fuel phase-out

  21-11-2025 02:26
  Exclusive: The Guardian understands Brazil had been planning to drop a roadmap to a transition away from fossil fuels amid opposition from petro statesCountries supporting a phase-out of fossil fuels at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil have threatened to block any agreement that does not include such a commitment, in a significant escalation of tensions at the crunch talks, the Guardian can reveal.The simmering row over a potential roadmap for the “transition away from fossil fuels&rdquo
  
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• Cop30 climate summit in Brazil disrupted after fire breaks out in venue

  20-11-2025 22:52
  Event thrown into confusion and 13 treated for smoke inhalation after conference centre evacuatedBrazilian president will take fossil fuel phase-out plan to G20 summitTalks at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil were disrupted on Thursday after a fire broke out in the venue, triggering an evacuation just as negotiators were preparing to try to land a deal to strengthen international efforts to address the climate crisis.Thirteen people were treated for smoke inhalation, organisers said in a state
  
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• Cop30 conference centre evacuated as fire breaks out – as it happened

  20-11-2025 21:42
  UN secretary-general António Guterres earlier used speech at Belem summit to urge countries to find compromises in final hours of negotiationsInside the halls of Cop30 you see people from all around the world, and it can be easy to forget that there are many people who remain unrepresented.On Thursday morning, Magne Tony was standing with compatriots from French Guiana outside the entrance to the conference centre, trying to push pieces of paper into the hands of arriving delegates and ob
  
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• Brazilian president will take fossil fuel phase-out plan to G20 summit

  20-11-2025 20:29
  Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he is ready to fight for transition roadmap despite opposition from some statesAll the coverage from Cop30The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has told Cop30 delegates that he will take his fossil fuel transition roadmap to the G20 in Johannesburg this week to campaign for it, despite reports that petrostates have said they will not accept the plan.Before leaving Cop30 in Belém, the figurehead of the global south told civil socie
  
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• People evacuated from Cop30 venue after fire breaks out – video

  20-11-2025 19:25
  Social media footage shows people running away from smoke and flames after a fire broke out at a Cop30 venue in Belém, Brazil, on Thursday. It is not yet known what caused the fire, which erupted in a pavilion, an area of spaces hosted by each country where they can have private meetings and offices away from official negotiating roomsCop30 live Continue reading...
  
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• Cop30 live: current climate pathway ‘a death sentence for many’, says UN secretary-general

  20-11-2025 16:39
  António Guterres uses speech at Belem summit to urge countries to find compromises in final hours of negotiationsInside the halls of Cop30 you see people from all around the world, and it can be easy to forget that there are many people who remain unrepresented.On Thursday morning, Magne Tony was standing with compatriots from French Guiana outside the entrance to the conference centre, trying to push pieces of paper into the hands of arriving delegates and observers headed: “Our Am
  
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• Jailhouse shock: Brazil coup monger Bolsonaro finally faces life behind bars

  20-11-2025 11:30
  The former president’s far-right supporters have discovered a new interest in prison conditions as incarceration loomsHe fought the law and the law won.Two months after receiving a 27-year sentence for trying to “annihilate” Brazil’s democratic institutions, former president Jair Bolsonaro finally looks jail-bound. Continue reading...
  
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